a. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a dripping sound generating apparatus which makes liquid to fall in the form of drops onto a surface of liquid pool retained below and makes dripping sounds by the liquid drops when they hit the liquid surface, allowing the sounds to echo or resonate to generate sounds like of "koto (Japanese harp)".
b. Description of Prior Art
There has been known a gardening technique characteristic of Japanese gardens, a so-called "Suikin-kutsu" (water-harp cave) which produces graceful and tasteful sounds which will be echoed in the gardens. Referring to FIG. 7 (Prior Art), this traditional "Suikin-kutsu" is formed by a bowl-like member 1 such as a pot, urn, etc. having a small hole at its bottom. The bowl-like member is buried upside down in the ground near, for example, a washbasin 20 set at an entrance to a tea arbor, so that the water used for washing hands may be allowed to gradually flow into the buried bowl-like member 1 through the hole and to fall as drops onto the surface of water pool retained at a lower portion of the bowl-like member 1, echoing or resonating the sounds by drops within the member 1.
As described above, "Suikin-kutsu" is an arrangement for enjoying sounds generated by water when dripping water hits the surface of water. Therefore, it is very important to make the water fall in the form of drops onto the water surface. For this purpose, a number of pebbles 21 are placed above the hole 2 of the bowl-like member 1 and through a water path to the hold 2 of the bowl-like member 1 to linger and retard the flow of the water and impart a time lag in the water flow so that an excessive quantity of the water may not flow into the bowl-like member 1 at once.
However, this conventional technique can not impart sufficient a time lag to the water flow and, therefore, the water runs out within a short time and the dripping sounds can be enjoyed only within a limited time. Further, if an amount of the water is increased, it becomes impossible to control the water flow. In addition, the quantity of the water of the water pool can not positively be controlled because the water tends to soak into the ground.
Furthermore, since a position from which water flows into the bowl-like member is fixed, the water drops always to the same point. This makes the dripping sounds rather monotonous.
The conventional "Suikin-kutsu" has another disadvantage in that it requires a considerably large space in a garden to install the "Suikin-kutsu" therein. Moreover, in order to enjoy subtle, faint sounds by "Suikin-kutsu", the place to install Suikin-kutsu in should be quiet.
However, it is sometimes difficult to acquire that suitable place for installing Suikin-kutsu in.